The present invention broadly relates to weapon systems, and, more specifically, relates to a new and improved construction of a breechblock buffer or cushioning device for an automatic firing weapon.
Generally speaking, the breechblock buffer of the present development is of the type comprising a buffer housing containing therein two chambers. A buffer piston is arranged in a first one of these chambers and an elastic element in the second one of these chambers. A check or non-return valve, which flow communicates both chambers with one another, opens only towards the first chamber.
With a known breechblock buffer of this type, as disclosed for instance in Swiss Pat. Nos. 352,257 and 582,342, there is employed as the elastic element a gas-filled container. This gas-filled container can be either fabricated of rubber or from a metallic bellows. This state-of-the-art breechblock buffer is, however, afflicted with the following drawbacks:
1. The gas-filled container is associated with the disadvantage that for the refilling of the gas-filled container there is required the availability of an appropriate gas flask or bottle and that it is not readily discernible whether the container still possesses adequate gas pressure.
2. The recoil energy of the buffer piston cannot be adequately dampened with this known breechblock buffer, so that there prevails relatively great wear of the entire breechblock buffer.
3. The leakage losses of the hydraulic fluid are relatively large for the heretofore known breechblock buffer constructions. This is afflicted with the shortcoming that it is repeatedly necessary to be aware of whether or not there is available sufficient hydraulic liquid.